If you have a website and you don't accept credit cards then you're losing massive amounts of business. Even if you do accept credit cards it may be worth considering an alternative that will either offer you better rates or save you time.

Infact, if you're within the United States of America or Canada, there are a large range of options open to you.

Unfortunately if you're like me, and are located outside these jurisdictions life becomes a little more complicated - though by no means impossible.

Whatever your circumstances the aim of this article is to give you a quick start in accepting credit cards on the Internet.

Once you understand the basic concepts then hopefully the other articles on this site will help you decide exactly what's right for you.

To enable you to accept credit cards online, there are three methods you can use.

They are:

• Gain your own merchant account from your bank
• Use a broker or intermediary to gain your own merchant account
• Use a third party service

Let's look at these three options in more detail.

The most direct route to gain a merchant account is through your local bank. Many banks will automatically send you details of their own particular service when you open a business account.

The problem with many banks is that as large, powerful institutions many are loathe to accept small businesses and startups.

For example, 12 months or more of audited accounts may be required, business plans or evidence of considerable investment capital.

Add to this the fact that many banks are still developing their e-commerce services. You see, banks offer different types of merchant accounts depending on the situation.

For example, those accounts for retail are usually considerably easier to gain than an Internet account. This is primarily because the retail "swipe card machine" (or PDQ) involves physically swiping the card then checking the signature.

On the Internet of course, the number is just typed in and you can't check the signature so there's a far greater risk of fraud.

Having said that, banks are slowly starting to introduce services to help internet companies, but in today's business climate I feel certain you'd be better putting your time, energy and cash into gaining a merchant account through the second route - using an intermediary.

Intermediate companies do exactly what it sounds - they form a defence between the bank and yourself. Whilst this may at first sound like a disadvantage because there's another body to get authorised by, the matter is quite the reverse.

Intermediary companies understand the banks and what they look for in a new client. They can "pitch" your application right and many boast enviable acceptance rates, even for non-US merchants.

The greatest tip I can give you when applying through these companies is this - minimise risk. Of applicants that do get refused many of them are refused on the grounds of high risk. That's what these companies look for. So wherever possible, find ways to make your business appear a "safe bet" and you'll greatly increase your chances.

I don't mean lie - far from it - you'll end up in far more trouble than it's worth but...

Aim to start small, selling low priced items. Aiming to sell a few hundred $10 items per month is much less risk than aiming to sell 10,000 television sets. Think small to start off with, then expand slowly.

Prove you're financially solvent - some companies will ask you to prove your personal net worth. They may ask about your credit card bill, mortgage and more so minimise your debt wherever possible.

Whilst I have no evidence to back me up on this point I believe that forming a limited company (so you become Pig Farmers Inc. or Swine Herders Ltd.) makes you look more professional and as result less risky. As one can form such a company over the Internet these days for a tiny amount of money I think it's well worth it if in doubt.

You may also be asked about guarantees on your products, monthly overheads of your business, past fraud of any one of a million other questions. For every one you're asked, think - "How can I instill more confidence and make my business look safer?".

It's just like your car insurance. Your rates are better if your car is nice and safe (boring, even), is kept in a garage at night and you've never had a crash, so think of it this way.

Even if you do get accepted, you may well find that if you appear safer, the rates you are offered will be better. If in doubt apply.

You might just get a nice surprise, and the sources we recommend allow you to apply without paying an application fee so there's no risk to you whatsoever.

The third and final method of accepting credit cards on your website is to use a third party service.

In this case, your business itself is not granted it's own merchant ID but rather you utilise the merchant account of another company.

Setting up an account with a third party processor is generally tremendously easy - it's a case of filling in a simple form with your name, address etc. and you're away. Some of these services are free to set up whilst most require a small "activation fee".

For the new startup who have tried unsuccessfully to gain their own merchant ID, third party processing is the way to go.

As with any other method there are benefits and distinct problems with third party processors.

The first benefit is clear - easy, quick and cheap setup. Many third party processors also offer additional services, some paid for, some free.

For example, Clickbank comes with built-in affiliate software as standard.

However, now we turn to the negative side of the story. Firstly, most merchant account intermediaries deposit the money paid by your customers in 24-48 hours. This means that you receive payment swiftly which helps keep your business finances bouyant and enable you to expand your operation faster.

In contrast, third party processors on average pay every 14-28 days depending on the company in question. Some will even pay you mid-month, for the previous month's takings - meaning you may have to wait up to 45 days for the settlement of funds. Clearly this stunts your business and can leave you open to problems.

Secondly, it's fair to say that all merchant account providers, be they bank, intermediaries or third party processors charge fees. This may involve a set per-month fee and/or a per-transaction fee (such as 5% of the value of each purchase). Unfortunately as you might expect, those of the third party processors are generally far, far higher than those charged to businesses who possess their own merchant account.

Lastly in this argument is the fact that you are far more limited in your dealings with a third party service than your own merchant account.

What I mean by this is that you have to send your visitors to their website to make their purchase, which makes you look less professional and you generally have to use the third party processors designated order form, with their name on, though some level of customization is usually possible such as adding your company logo.

In this respect you're simply less in control of matters. And finally, as you are using the third-party processor's merchant account, and not your own, your customers credit card bill will show up the name of the third party processor you have used rather than that of your company.

In general therefore, I'd regard using third party processors as a "last resort" due to their far higher fees and less professional appearance.

So which of these three methods is right for your business? Only you can make this decision but to help you we've created a whole site full of articles in the hope of steering you in the right direction.

It's free to use so please make use of it - and send us your feedback so we can tailor the site even further to your needs.

Best of luck to you and your business!

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One Simple Method I Use To Skyrocket My Affiliate Revenue

(Or How I Get Up To 1 In Every 3 People Who See My Affiliate Links To Click Them)

By Richard Adams

© 2004. All rights reserved.
http://www.MerchantAccountForum.com
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What's the easiest and quickest way to increase your affiliate earnings - without increasing your traffic?

Increase the *percentage* of your traffic that is actually clicking your links and visiting the affiliate programs you're promoting. And make sure as many as possible end up BUYING.

But how?

The answer is targetting.

Infact, let me rephrase that - I call it "ultra-targetting".

In this article I'm going to show you how I use it to achieve huge clickthrough rates. 10-15% is easy, and I regularly achieve up to 33% - on a regular basis. That is, for every 3 people that see my affiliate links, 1 of them clicks one.

And that's amazing.

It's so simple, it would be too easy to overlook this method, but when you compare the 0.5% clickthrough rate that others are getting by using banners, and my 33% result, who do you think is making more money from affiliate programs?!

Tell me - have you ever seen one of those story books where you choose what happens?

The story starts, then you get two options of what happens next. And based on what you decide you turn to a different part of the book.

Then you read that and you get two more options and so on.

One book, but dozens of choices and different options taking you off in all sorts of different directions - and also leading to a different end.

That's exactly what your affiliate website should be.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you have an affiliate site on the highly profitable subject of computers.

Imagine the number of different people who could visit your site.

Students, parents, business owners, companies, doctors and more.

They might be looking for a cheap computer. A powerful computer. A fast computer.

A computer with a flat screen. With a dvd drive. Or a printer.

Wanting to use it for games. Work. Emailing. The Internet. Desktop publishing.

Now what if you put one identical text link on every page of your site? Something like:

"For the best deals I've found in computers, click here"

What would happen is two things:

Firstly, fewer people than can be achieved would click the link because is doesn't specifically target their needs very well.

After all, for someone searching for a computer to play games on, a better link would be:

"For the best games computer I've found, click here"

Secondly, of those people that *do* click through, very few will actually find what they want because you're not specifically sending them to the exact product that matches their needs.

Now, text links just like the example above, inserted at both the top and bottom of every page, will garner much higher clickthrough rates than any banner ad, but if we ultra-target, we can boost our results much, much more.

Provide lots of options to your visitors, in the form of links to other pages. Pages that pander to all sorts of different scenarios:

- Are you looking for the cheapest computer?
- Are you searching for the latest model of computer?
- Do you want to do desktop publishing with your computer?
- Are you new to computers and looking for an easy option?

And so on.

If necessary, break it down even further.

Get your visitors to choose their country. Then what style they're looking for. Or the price they're willing to pay.

So long as your visitors feel they're getting close to a solution to their problem, you should be able to take them through 3 or 4 pages without annoying them.

Then, on each of these "subpages" that you've created, find a suitable solution for your patient visitor.

Provide the link they've come looking for.

No, don't just "provide" it, "prove" it. Discuss it. Argue it. Compare it with others. Describe your experience of shopping there. Ask others for their opinions.

Make it not only a highly targetted option, but also one you turn into such a perfect-sounding solution, they just *have* to click it.

They'll be so targetted that your clickthrough rates will skyrocket.

And as you've carefully matched the affiliate program with your lead, your sales will also increase considerably.

You win both ways.

One further way you'll benefit is that these sub-pages are exactly the sort of highly targetted pages that the search engines love - bringing in even more traffic (and sales).

And the fact you're creating keyword rich links pointing to these sub-pages will help them (and your main homepage) rank even higher.

Did you notice how many times I naturally managed to include the word "computer" in the links above?

Search engines - and Google in particular - *love* this.

Lastly, if you want to see two examples of sites that ultra- target, check out the following two links:

> http://www.MerchantAccountForum.com
> http://buildit.sitesell.com/buynow.html

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Richard Adams is the founder of Merchant Account Forum, one of the net's most popular merchant account advice sites. Click Here Now =>
www.MerchantAccountForum.com
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